I have had my HTC legend for 6 months now, and from a general perspective I am pleased with the phone and features. It is doing everything I need it to - fast, intuitive and easy. Some things about the Android setup is really starting to go on my nerves...
Remember Windows? It is the operating system running 80% pf all computers today. Why? Many reasons I think, and since this is not about Microsoft or Windows, I'm just gonna mention the one I think is most important: It is supporting a wide range of PC manufacturers; giving the end user the opportunity to choose his PC himself. This means I can choose from a long list og manufacturers, processors and accessories - Cool! Or is it?
The same is true for phones these days. Android is supporting thousands of different phones, giving me the chance to decide what I want. Screen size, bluetooth, keyboard and so on. The drawback with this model, is that the manufacturer of phones does not care about what they have in the market, but are constantly trying to match or overdo what their compeditors are doing. We now have a 1.2GHz processor compared to 1.1GHz at our compeditors. So our product is best. In the end i am guessing 80-90% of the user experience is based on the OS - and not the phone hardware.
Why am I writing this? Well, because I am really pissed about HTC not launching Android 2.2 (Froyo) for HTC legend (my phone model). I don't care about hardware. Well the phone is nice, but I'd rather have the 2.2 update and go with a plastic case (the legend has a very nice aluminium case) but that doesn't get rid of my exchange sync problem. Back to my point 80-90% of the user experience is in the software and not the hardware.
This is why I think Apple is successful! They have seen a need to put out a new phone with 2-3 years apart, and still support software for older models. iOS4 is for both iphone3 and 4. What a nice strategy.
I feel like the manufacturers are fighting for customers to buy their new smartphone - but as soon as we do, we are put back in the cold and are not important to the company anymore. Why is this? It is ilogical (is that a word?) to me...
So Android is a lot like windows. An ok software for a very wide range of phones. I think we will see good sales number for Android phones, but users that are half satesfied and basically don't care. I am sad bacuse Android has such a great potential - and it is beeing wasted with greedy phone companies who have no idea what their customers want. - This is quite a statement I know, but look at it. Apple just released the most impressing sales numbers ever seen by an IT company, and they have a totally different strategy. I'm not saying it's neccesarry better, because I have no other apple product than an old iPod, but it looks that way...
Here are a few article links to underline my point...
